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Developer Tea

Jonathan Cutrellwww.developertea.com
Developer Tea exists to help driven developers connect to their ultimate purpose and excel at their work so that they can positively impact the people they influence. With over 17 million downloads to date, Developer Tea is a short podcast hosted by Jonathan Cutrell, engineering leader with over 15 years of industry experience. We hope you'll take the topics from this podcast and continue the conversation, either online or in person with your peers. Email: developertea@gmail.com
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Episodes

Developing Purpose Oriented Resolutions

In today's episode, we discuss purpose-oriented resolutions. We'll discuss an exercise you can use to help drive this development process. We'll also continue this discussion about resolution development in the next episode of the show. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 is here to solve your login problems, for good. Auth0 provides simple, secure, and adaptable login for applications and businesses, freeing you up to focus on the problems you are best suited to solve in your p...

Jan 03, 202219 minEp. 1034

Your Only Challenge Is To Focus

If you can't focus, you are paralyzed. Everything you do in your career and life will be served better with clear and continuous focus. We revisit this topic after nearly seven years because it is profoundly true. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly enables development and operations teams to deploy code at any time, even if a feature isn't ready to be released to users. Innovate faster, deploy fearlessly, and make ea...

Dec 30, 202114 minEp. 1033

Taking Back Ownership Over Your Priorities

It's hard to remember sometimes, but our priorities are our own. We have agency over our time. Even our obligations are more often determined by our chosen values than they are by actual survival. When we accept that we have agency over our priorities, we can start to reclaim time that we feel is being taken from us, eliminating a feeling of chaos and frustration and regaining a sense of calm and intention. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by L...

Dec 28, 202117 minEp. 1032

3 Cognitive Pitfalls of Mental Models

Mental models are very useful, and we tap into them even without knowing it. But just like any cognitive tool, our brain can play tricks on us when using mental models. In this episode we'll talk about three ways we can go wrong with mental models. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly enables development and operations teams to deploy code at any time, even if a feature isn't ready to be released to users. Innovate fas...

Dec 23, 202120 minEp. 1031

Using Proactive Decision Tools To Reduce Reactive Decision Error

Make your decisions easier by anticipating them. Determine systems for making decisions in advance, so you don't get caught making them on the spot. Determine models of opportunities so you can quickly pattern-match against them, and create systems that make your decisions for you when possible. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly enables development and operations teams to deploy code at any time, even if a feature i...

Dec 20, 202120 minEp. 1030

Two Perspective-Sharpening Tools For Your New Year's Resolution Making

In today's episode, we'll talk about two ways to improve your perception and perspective when making your new year's resolutions, or any other big decisions or changes in your life. These two tools will help you make adjustments to what you are paying attention to, and reduce the friction in your decision-making process. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: cord cord is the messaging tool that gives you direct access to hiring teams inside technology companies in London, Europe and New York....

Dec 17, 202116 minEp. 1029

Two Tools for Improving Your Closest Relationships

In today's episode, we discuss two tools that I believe will change your closest relationships forever. It can be awkward to intentionally work on communication with your closest relationships. But if you employ these tools, you're nearly guaranteed to see an improvement in your relationships. This isn't a gimmick or a hack; it's the hard work of communicating clearly with another human being. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. L...

Dec 15, 202120 minEp. 1028

Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part One (Fixed Audio)

We had some gremlins in the audio processing of the first part of the interview with Ernie Miller. They've been banished! Sorry about the trouble, and thank you for listening. Today I talk with Ernie Miller. Ernie is the head of engineering at Monograph. (They are hiring!) We talk about the four-day work week, fragility of culture and the importance of taking care of it, and the differentiation of culture and values. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 is here to solve your logi...

Dec 14, 202139 minEp. 1025

Input Quadrant - A Tool for Better Retrospectives

We have an illusion of control when things go our way, and a bias to shift the blame when things don't go our way. In retrospectives, we also believe we know all of the variables at play. In today's episode, we talk about these tendencies, and provide a model for thinking about our efforts as functions, and different variables as inputs. We categorize these inputs into four categories on a matrix, and provide a tool you can use practically in your retrospectives. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To...

Dec 13, 202122 minEp. 1027

Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part Two

Today I talk with Ernie Miller. Ernie is the head of engineering at Monograph. (They are hiring!) This is the second part of my interview with Ernie. We talk about the four-day work week, fragility of culture and the importance of taking care of it, and the differentiation of culture and values. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 is here to solve your login problems, for good. Auth0 provides simple, secure, and adaptable login for applications and businesses, freeing you up to ...

Dec 08, 202130 minEp. 1026

Welcome Back Interview with Ernie Miller, Head of Engineering at Monograph, Part One

Today I talk with Ernie Miller. Ernie is the head of engineering at Monograph. (They are hiring!) We talk about the four-day work week, fragility of culture and the importance of taking care of it, and the differentiation of culture and values. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 is here to solve your login problems, for good. Auth0 provides simple, secure, and adaptable login for applications and businesses, freeing you up to focus on the problems you are best suited to solve i...

Dec 06, 202139 minEp. 1025

The Focus IS the Work

The focus is the work. When anyone asks how they can be more productive, I give them the exercise I talk about in this episode. It's extremely simple, but not easy. What are you focused on, right now? If you can answer this question at all times, you will be productive. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Square has APIs for almost every aspect of running a business from employee management, to order creation and tracking, to inventory synchronization. Square’s APIs also integrate wi...

Dec 01, 202121 minEp. 1024

Dealing with Inevitable But Unpredictable Events

Bugs are inevitable, but individually unpredictable. Trying to use a single strategy for dealing with these events will miss a huge number of the events, while requiring massive efforts. Instead, we should focus on building a balanced approach to dealing with problems like this. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly enables development and operations teams to deploy code at any time, even if a feature isn't ready to be ...

Nov 29, 202121 minEp. 1023

Think in Composition

Most things are compositions of other things. Most problems are multi-factorial. Most opportunities have more than one selling point. Sometimes, it helps to realign your thinking to composition, using tools like matrices to make better decisions. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Square has APIs for almost every aspect of running a business from employee management, to order creation and tracking, to inventory synchronization. Square’s APIs also integrate with software business own...

Nov 24, 202110 minEp. 1022

Substitute Better Questions

Substitute with better questions, and you'll have more insightful answers. Questions are a major contributing factor to behavior, and the way you ask questions is a habit that can have a high-leverage cascading effect on the rest of your life. Find better questions. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly enables development and operations teams to deploy code at any time, even if a feature isn't ready to be released to u...

Nov 23, 202116 minEp. 1021

Focusing On Fundamentals Is Not Repetition, It is Refinement

Focusing on fundamentals may seem boring, or like a sports catchphrase used to motivate people to practice. The truth is, these fundamentals are still going to be the most important value-making activities of your career. But as you continue participating in them, if you engage with intention, you will not simply be repeating the same thing over and over; you and your environment will change, sometimes as a result of those repeated cycles. You will gain intuition from the practice, and you will ...

Nov 18, 202110 minEp. 1020

Metamodeling and Steering Systems for Self Improvement

Metamodeling is creating a model of models. Confused yet? When we use models, we often assume they are complete. But what characteristics could make all of our models better? That's the concept of metamodeling. We talk about creating metamodels and using steering feedback to derive value from one model to another. 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the show, drop it over at: developertea.com. 📮 Join the Discord If you want to b...

Nov 16, 202115 minEp. 1019

When Pressure Turns To Poison

Stress often comes from pressure. When we experience pressure, we usually respond by trying to relieve it - often to the detriment of our work. In today's episode, we talk about the dangers of pressure, and some strategies to employ in the face of pressure. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Try out Square’s CPOS APIs today for a chance to win $20k in the Build What’s POS-sible Hackathon. For more information and to register go to https://squ.re/cpos , and check out the Build What's...

Nov 11, 202115 minEp. 1018

Less Confidence, More Bravery

Confidence is often used as an artificial bluff, to help us feel less dread of failure. But this is problematic; when we put blinders on, we don't prepare adequately, often leading to blame-shifting and other techniques to maintain an inflated sense of confidence. Instead, choose bravery - the willingness to act in the face of uncertainty. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly is hosting Trajectory Conference 2021 — a t...

Nov 08, 20219 minEp. 1017

Habits, Languages, Processes, and Other Behavior Engines

What do you want to change? The things you do repeatedly have the most impact on your life. Focus on the systems that produce repeated behaviors. We talk about these as "engines" of behavior in today's episode, and help you figure out which ones to focus on the most. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: LaunchDarkly This episode is brought to you by LaunchDarkly. LaunchDarkly is hosting Trajectory Conference 2021 — a two-day event for software innovators who want to break orbit, not systems....

Nov 02, 202119 minEp. 1016

Mindful Job Search: Myths and Psychology of Interviewing

We continue talking about conducting a mindful job search in today's episode. The truth is, that next application you put in is probably not going to end in an accepted offer. Whether by your decision or theirs, most job applications go nowhere. In this episode we'll talk about how to deal with this reality, as well as some other myths of interviewing. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Square Try out Square’s CPOS APIs today for a chance to win $20k in the Build What’s POS-sible Hackathon...

Oct 27, 202118 minEp. 1014

Mindful Job Search: Is it really time for me to quit my job?

If you've ever felt bad about looking for a job, or you're wondering if now is the right time because a bunch of coworkers or friends are on the move, this episode is for you. We talk about approaching making a career change decision mindfully, and considering how it will affect your internal happiness. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 is here to solve your login problems, for good. Auth0 provides simple, secure, and adaptable login for applications and businesses, freeing yo...

Oct 25, 202122 minEp. 1013

Can You Really Pick the Right Tool for Every Job?

Pick the right tool for the job. But who is picking? What tools can they choose from? And what is the actual job, anyway? This advice is important because it gives you a starting framework to answer some of the most important clarifying questions in any task of significance. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Compiler Compiler is a brand new podcast from RedHat where the hosts answer the most complicated questions about our work. Demystifying the tech industry, one question at a time! Find...

Oct 20, 202115 minEp. 1012

A Statistical Case for Iteration Over Perfect Preparation

You are much more likely to succeed with iteration than you are with a perfect first attempt. This is purely a function of probability, and is even more supported by the idea of progressive improvement. When you can iterate, it is a better route to higher confidence of success than perfect preparation. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 is here to solve your login problems, for good. Auth0 provides simple, secure, and adaptable login for applications and businesses, freeing you...

Oct 18, 202116 minEp. 1011

Avoid Unnecessary Prediction

When you have to predict, you're likely to have error in your prediction. Sometimes that error is easily handled - other times, it can be catastrophic in effect. The next time you have the urge to predict into the future, ask yourself - what benefit do you gain from predicting this now? Can you avoid unnecessary prediction all together with a different route? 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Compiler Compiler is a brand new podcast from RedHat where the hosts answer the most complicated ...

Oct 15, 202117 minEp. 1010

Give Random a Chance

Random choice may actually be your best bet. At the very least, starting with random is a good exercise in self control, and will help reveal information more easily than intuitive guessing might. Give random a chance! 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 is here to solve your login problems, for good. Auth0 provides simple, secure, and adaptable login for applications and businesses, freeing you up to focus on the problems you are best suited to solve in your product. You can im...

Oct 13, 202113 minEp. 1009

Two Illusions of Agreement

It's easy to believe that everyone you get along with agrees with you about anything and everything. The truth is harder to confront, but often, this illusion can cause problems - especially when you actually want diverse perspectives. In this episode, we talk about two types of illusion of agreement, and how you might combat them. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Compiler Compiler is a brand new podcast from RedHat where the hosts answer the most complicated questions about our work. De...

Oct 07, 202117 minEp. 1008

Limit Your Options By Limiting Your Obligations

The number of things you have to choose to do in a day is constantly being fought over. Your calendar, if it's like most calendars, has very little to do with how you want to spend your time. Limit your options. Focus on fewer things. Eliminate your obligations. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Auth0 Auth0 is here to solve your login problems, for good. Auth0 provides simple, secure, and adaptable login for applications and businesses, freeing you up to focus on the problems you are best...

Oct 04, 202113 minEp. 1007

Feature Exploitation

When we understand the features and boundaries of any object, we can do more with that object based on those constraints. This doesn't just apply to code - it applies to our lives in meaningful ways, and acts as a heuristic and a powerful model for thinking. 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Compiler Compiler is a brand new podcast from RedHat where the hosts answer the most complicated questions about our work. Demystifying the tech industry, one question at a time! Find it wherever you ...

Sep 29, 202116 minEp. 1006

How Averages Can Trick You and Obscure the Truth

Averages can trick you into thinking a generalized idea about a complex set of data. This kind of compression happens not only with averages but any other process that summarizes information. Ask yourself: What am I missing in this story? 🙏 Today's Episode is Brought To you by: Retool Build internal tools, remarkably fast. Connect to anything w/ an API. Drag-and-drop React components. Write JS anywhere. Check them out over at https://retool.com/startups/devtea 📮 Ask a Question If you enjoyed t...

Sep 27, 202121 minEp. 1005
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